Meet the Cyber Action Team

The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program released the special report, Human Trafficking and Drug Offenses 2013-2022, on the FBI’s Crime Data Explorer at  cde.ucr.cjis.gov. For this special report, UCR Program staff examined drug offenses in connection to human trafficking incidents compared to the number of human trafficking incidents per year.

Among the findings: The South region has the highest number of reported human trafficking incidents. Marijuana, amphetamines/methamphetamines, and cocaine were the top three reported drug types seized during human trafficking incidents.

Details | View the report

This year marks the 50th year of the FBI’s crisis (hostage) negotiation program. Few things have kept more police officers out of harm’s way or saved as many innocent hostages and victims as this important discipline. While the precise number of lives saved is not known, evidence suggests that thousands have been saved by this approach to managing crisis events.

Hostage negotiations as a discipline began in the New York City Police Department around 1973. A more thoughtful and patient approach to dealing with hostage events was formulated under the leadership and guidance of Police Psychologist Dr. Harvey Schlossberg and Lt. Frank Bolz. For the first time, law enforcement’s response was focused on containing the situation, de-escalating the tension, opening a dialogue and presenting the perpetrators with a less confrontational response. The focus was on contrasting the benefits of cooperation with the risks of resistance.

Hostage-takers hold others against their will to press a third party, usually law enforcement, to give into their demands: money, a getaway car, prisoner release, etc. Appreciating that most hostage-takers are focused on having their demands met and not dying, this new, more measured response achieved immediate results.

I received my initial hostage negotiation training in 1980 and came to the Special Operations and Research Unit (SOARU) as an SSA and full-time negotiator in 1990. At that time, as with the NYPD, the FBI’s negotiation curriculum was heavily focused on “quid-pro-quo” bargaining.

When confronting a hostage-taker, we taught, “Never give something unless you get something CNU’s first unit chief describes the program’s operations, instruction and research responsibilities.” For example, if a bank robber holding customers and bank employees as hostages wanted food, we would insist he release a hostage in exchange. This basic approach continued to achieve positive results. Buying time, lowering high emotion and making perpetrators work for everything they got was a successful formula in most hostage situations.

Shortly after my assignment to SOARU, with the collection of more data, we realized that most of the incidents police officers and FBI agents responded to were not technically hostage situations at all. They were incidents involving expressive or highly emotional grievances, things like domestic partner disputes, barricaded fugitives, child-custody arguments, drug or alcohol abuse, mental health episodes, employee-versus employer disputes, suicides and more.

It became clear that the perpetrators weren’t engaged in a purposeful activity with the intent of bargaining; rather, they often didn’t know what they wanted. Such individuals were manifesting their sense of rage or frustration. We often encountered impulsive individuals with poor coping skills reacting to challenging life events in a violent manner. The demand most often voiced was for the police to “go away and leave me/us alone.” Such a demand isn’t substantive and neither does it provide law enforcement negotiators with an ability to influence behavior using a quid-pro-quo approach model.

On the basis of this realization, we implemented a major change in the FBI’s hostage negotiation program in late 1990 to focus on crisis intervention and active listening skills borrowed from the mental health counseling field and pioneered by Carl Rogers, an American psychotherapist.

Active Listening Skills (ALS) armed FBI and police negotiators with tools to use in their communications with a wide range of hostage-takers and other highly expressive and emotional perpetrators. The positive results were overwhelming. Being responsible for the FBI nationwide negotiation curriculum, I made ALS the centerpiece of our instructional program and provided uniform guidance and training materials to all our field negotiation trainers to use nationwide.

This approach quickly caught on and soon became the standard practice in law enforcement worldwide. ALS has even become a key training component for new agents learning interview and interrogation techniques.

To better illustrate the crisis intervention approach, I created the Behavioral Change Stairway Model to demonstrate that the influence we sought as negotiators to gain the cooperation of perpetrators was a “process” that required a sincere and genuine empathic engagement. Our ability to influence didn’t come automatically because of our rank or authority. ALS allowed us to better understand the emotions driving the dangerous behavior we were confronting, and eventually earned us the right to present alternatives to violence based on the positive relationship we created. This adaptation further enhanced our success rate percentage, which soon was in the mid- to high-90s. Few things in law enforcement achieve such a high success rate.

After the tragic event at Waco, Texas, in 1993, the FBI created the Critical Incident Response Group (CIRG), and the negotiation program was turned into the Crisis Negotiation Unit (CNU) within CIRG. I was proud to be named as the first CNU unit chief. In addition to responding to bank robberies, militia standoffs, prison riots, skyjackings, religious zealot sieges, embassy takeovers and the kidnapping-for-ransom of American citizens abroad, CNU continued to teach these life-saving skills around the world. Negotiation training has often been the most sought-after training specialty in the FBI’s instructional repertoire.

Today, CNU continues its triad of responsibilities: operations, instruction and research. Showing leadership in creating the National Council of Negotiation Associations for police and the International Negotiation Working Group for our many international colleagues, CNU and its best-in-the-world National Crisis Negotiation Course remain in the forefront of this vital law enforcement specialty.

In the past year, I spoke at the annual FBI Crisis Negotiation Coordinators’ Conference and learned the historical conflict between tactical and negotiation components has been largely eliminated through closer coordination, refined policy guidance, expanded training interaction and enhanced procedures.

The CNU has also significantly expanded its training courses into an array of advanced training for our crisis negotiators. Further, the unit has stayed at the forefront of negotiations broadly, lending its members’ expertise to resolving ransomware extortions and virtual kidnappings.

Looking back on some of the major FBI crisis events over my career and beyond, such as the Atlanta, Oakdale and St. Martinsville prison riots; the Montana Freeman and Republic of Texas sieges; and, more recently, the negotiated release of 17 Christian Aid Ministries workers in Haiti, it’s clear the FBI’s crisis negotiation program has had a dramatic life-saving impact on resolving a wide range of crisis standoffs.

As the saying goes, “We have to be at our very best when those we are confronting are at their very worst.” CNU’s motto, “Pax Per Conloquium,” means resolution through dialogue. I believe that negotiation is the most noble of law enforcement endeavors. Without question, it has long been clear that sincere, genuine, patient and thoughtful engagement saves lives.

Related: Manhunts: A Role for Crisis Negotiators (Law Enforcement Bulletin, Dec. 7, 2021)

In the fifth largest state that continues to have higher-than-average crime rates, maximizing efforts and resources is a priority. While task forces are the heart of such collaboration, tactical teams are also integral in addressing crime that transcends jurisdictional boundaries.

To continue to broaden the strategy of crime prevention and community safety, real-world law enforcement capabilities were put to practice during FBI Albuquerque’s 2024 SWAT Challenge.

After of months of planning and preparation, the idea of bringing together tactical teams from around the state for the first of its kind challenge became a reality. Bryan M. Acee, FBI Albuquerque special agent and SWAT senior team leader wanted to create a training opportunity through healthy competition for all local, state, tribal and federal team members.

“We often meet at crisis sites and such environments are not the time to get to know one another,” Acee said. This is all the truer in New Mexico, a state with smaller, collateral SWAT teams limited by funding for advanced training and equipment. Even so, it’s anticipated the team will complete over 100 operations this fiscal year.

The SWAT Challenge included participants ranging from employee volunteers to executive management and was organized in partnership with the FBI Recreation Association. Darlene S. Andrada, FBI Albuquerque associate chief security officer, served as a score keeper and, like everyone involved, was excited to participate in the inaugural competition.

“Sitting behind the comfort of my desk while performing my traditional judge duties, it is easy to lose sight of the real situations the men and women who risk their lives as part of their law enforcement service confront. Building camaraderie and trust between the varies agencies that could find themselves working together in a major crisis, before that crisis occurs, seems like an easy decision.”

Scheduled events combined physical fitness with firearms proficiency and a good sense of humor. One such event was the “Riddle Cat”; while pushing a 28,000-pound Bearcat 50 yards, teams solved as many riddles as possible.

SWAT drone operator skills were showcased via an indoor obstacle course, and the range sniper challenge. Not having an agency issued drone didn’t stop the Santa Fe County Sheriff Office from competing. They relied on ingenuity and a team member’s incredible sprinting ability to complete the tasking.

Humility and perseverance were put to the test again during the 4-mile relay race that included extreme wind gusts. While some teams were down members, equipment and training, they gave their all and never quit.

For all the teams involved, the 2024 SWAT Challenge exemplified the dedication and commitment to serve no matter the deficient and how teams can better support one another when duty calls.